Impact of (bio)chemical and physical procedures on food allergen stability

A variety of methods have been used to attempt to decrease the allergenicity of food products, with highly variable success. Limited knowledge of allergen and epitope structures and the factors governing their stability may explain this, and the ensuing need for an empirical approach. A combined effort from a processing and genomics-based approach may open up new ways to improve the quality of foods from an allergenic perspective. Based on structural knowledge, a suitable approach can be chosen that is, for instance, heat stable but protease sensitive; protease resistant but not heat stable; easy to extract; easy to mask because the epitope is exactly on a crosslink site; a molecular probe design that allows screening of germplasm collections.